Reviewing the Research: Making the Case for Mineral Fiber - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Reviewing the Research: Making the Case for Mineral Fiber Insulation

Angus E. Crane General Counsel and Executive Vice President North American Insulation Manufacturers Association February 27, 2019

Who Is NAIMA?

NAIMA IS THE TRADE ASSOCIATION FOR NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS OF FIBER GLASS, ROCK WOOL, AND SLAG WOOL INSULATION PRODUCTS. NAIMA PROMOTES ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION THROUGH THE USE OF INSULATION AND SPONSORS PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS.

What Is Fiber Glass and Rock and Slag Wool Insulation?

• FIBER GLASS – SAND, GLASS CULLET (RECYCLED GLASS),

MINERALS SUCH AS LIMESTONE, AND SODA ASH MELTED AND FIBERIZED INTO VARIOUS INSULATION PRODUCTS

• ROCK AND SLAG WOOL – ROCK (BASALT), BLAST

FURNACE SLAG, AND MINERALS MELTED AND FIBERIZED INTO INSULATION

Typical Glass, Rock & Slag Insulation Wool Products

Pipe Duct Board Batts

Acoustic & Ceiling Tile Original Equipment Manufacturer

Loosefill

Respiratory protection is not recommended for batt installation because exposures are well below 1 f/cc

Respiratory protection is not recommended for batt installation because exposures are well below 1 f/cc

Respiratory protection is not recommended for board installation because exposures are well below 1 f/cc

Benefits of Insulation

• INSULATION MAKES BUILDINGS MORE ENERGY

EFFICIENT

• INSULATION KEEPS BUILDINGS COOL IN THE

SUMMER AND WARM IN THE WINTER

• ENERGY‐EFFICIENT BUILDINGS SAVE MONEY AND

LOWER UTILITY BILLS

• A TYPICAL POUND OF FIBER GLASS INSULATION

SAVES 12 TIMES AS MUCH ENERGY IN ITS FIRST YEAR IN PLACE AS THE ENERGY USED TO PRODUCE IT

Benefits of Insulation

• THE 1943 MODERN MEDICAL COUNSELOR IN ITS ADVICE

FOR IMPROVED HEALTH SUGGESTED THE FOLLOWING:

• “If modern insulating materials are used in the building of a new home, it

will be better protected against the extremes of heat and cold and will conserve fuel.”

• This is particularly important in protecting babies and older people
• THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF BRITISH MEDICINE (1964) –

“COLD THE KILLER” – ADVOCATED THE USE OF INSULATION TO CORRECT THE HYPOTHERMIA PROBLEM AMONG THE ELDERLY AND INFANTS

• “The old people should be given help with insulation of their houses. . . by
• fficial or voluntary services”

NAIMA Represents an Industry That:

• FULLY AND PROPERLY
• Evaluates the hazards of our members’ products
• Communicates those hazards
• BUT ALSO EVALUATES THE PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS

OF OUR PRODUCTS

• EVALUATES EXPOSURE TO FIBER (NAIMA’S DATABASE

CONTAINS OVER 18,000 DATA POINTS)

• ADOPTED A VOLUNTARY AND PROACTIVE APPROACH

TO POLLUTION PREVENTION

• ADOPTED, WITHOUT ANY REGULATORY

REQUIREMENT, A COMPREHENSIVE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM – THE HEALTH AND SAFETY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (“HSPP”) – WITH OSHA, WHICH WAS TRANSFORMED INTO NAIMA’S PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

Health and Safety Partnership Program (HSPP)

• OSHA’S PRIORITY PLANNING PROCESS
• Listed synthetic vitreous fibers plus 17 other materials
• NAIMA OPTED FOR VOLUNTARY STANDARD
• JOINT EFFORT BETWEEN OSHA, NAIMA, UNIONS, AND OTHER

TRADE GROUPS CREATED THE HSPP

• KEY COMPONENTS OF HSPP
• Recommended PEL
• Comprehensive work practices
• Training programs and material
• Specific guidance for respiratory protection
• Most important element – exposure database
• ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY OVERSEES AND MANAGES

EXPOSURE DATABASE

• DATABASE INCLUDES BOTH PERSONAL AND AREA SAMPLES

AND IDENTIFIES EVERY CONCEIVABLE JOB TASK WITH AVERAGE EXPOSURES

Health and Safety Partnership Program

• OSHA HAS AUTHORIZED INSULATION CONTRACTORS

TO RELY ON THE DATABASE

• The database includes manufacturing, fabricator, and installer exposure data
• THE EXPOSURE DATABASE IS A LIVING DATABASE,

WHICH MEANS NEW DATA IS COLLECTED AND ADDED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS

• IARC, NTP, AND CALIFORNIA RELIED UPON THIS

DATABASE IN MAKING THEIR DELISTING DECISION

• OSHA references the database on its website
• THREE PEER‐REVIEWED ARTICLES HAVE BEEN

PUBLISHED ON THE DATABASE

• AFTER 8‐YEAR PROGRAM WITH OSHA, HSPP WAS

CONVERTED TO NAIMA PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

A History of Product Stewardship and Medical and Scientific Research

• 1930 – RESEARCH ON SYNTHETIC VITREOUS FIBERS

OR MAN‐MADE VITREOUS FIBERS COMMENCES

• 1942 – DR. W. J. SIEBERT PUBLISHES FIRST

EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDIES ON MANUFACTURING WORKERS

• 1950S‐1960S – ONGOING RESEARCH
• Animal
• Epidemiology
• 1970S–1980S – ANIMAL IMPLANTATION STUDIES

BECOME PREVALENT

• Implantation studies – fibers were surgically implanted or injected into the

animals lungs

• These tests sometimes resulted in tumors in the laboratory animals

Consequences of Animal Testing In Animal Implantation Studies

• PRESENCE OF TUMORS TRIGGERED REVIEW BY THE

INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER (“IARC”)

• IN 1988, IARC, BASED ON ANIMAL IMPLANTATION

STUDIES, LISTED FIBER GLASS AND ROCK AND SLAG WOOL INSULATION PRODUCTS AS A POSSIBLE CARCINOGEN

• Rats were exposed to very large amounts of fibrous glass via implantation

and injection

• Epidemiological studies did not support a finding of carcinogenicity

IARC Classifications

• IARC MENU OF CLASSIFICATION
• Known – Group 1 (Total 114)
• Tobacco
• Asbestos
• All alcoholic beverages
• The sun
• Probable – Group 2A (Total 69)
• Lead
• PCBs
• Possible – Group 2B (Total 283)
• Barbequed meats
• Not Classifiable – Group 3 (Total 50)
• Caffeine
• Fiber glass and mineral wool
• Cholesterol
• Electric fields
• Not a Carcinogen
• None

Consequences of Animal Testing In Animal Implantation Studies

• AS A RESULT OF IARC’S DECISION, CALIFORNIA’S OFFICE

OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARD ASSESSMENT (“OEHHA”), ADMINISTRATORS OF PROPOSITION 65, ADDED FIBER GLASS TO ITS LIST OF CARCINOGENS

• THE NATIONAL TOXICOLOGY PROGRAM (“NTP”) FOLLOWED

SUIT AND ADDED FIBER GLASS TO ITS REPORT ON CARCINOGENS (“ROC”)

• OSHA’S HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARD MANDATES

THAT A LISTING BY ANY ONE OF THESE AGENCIES REQUIRES THAT THE SUBSTANCES OR PRODUCT BE LABELED AS A CARCINOGEN

• NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME, FIBER GLASS AND ROCK AND

SLAG WOOL PRODUCTS CARRY CANCER WARNING LABELS

Some of the Impacts of a Cancer Warning Label

• CONSUMER FEAR
• MARKET IMPACT
• BIAS AND PREJUDICE FROM PRODUCT SPECIFIERS
• Green movement
• Environmental groups
• Health advocacy groups
• Untested substitutes are recommended
• COMPETITORS, WHO HAVE NEVER TESTED THEIR

PRODUCTS, USE IT AGAINST FIBER GLASS AND ROCK AND SLAG WOOL INSULATION PRODUCTS IN THEIR ADVERTISING

• FIBER GLASS BECAME KNOWN AS THE PRODUCT

WITH THE CANCER WARNING LABEL

A Problem with Animal Implantation Studies

• ANIMAL IMPLANTATION STUDIES WERE NOT USING

A RELEVANT ROUTE OF HUMAN EXPOSURE

Animal Inhalation Studies

• THERE WERE SEVEN INHALATION STUDIES
• RCC WAS SELECTED BECAUSE IT WAS:
• State of the art
• Advances in study design
• Advances in technology
• Recommended and accepted by third‐party experts and government
• fficials
• MOTIVES FOR TESTING:
• Delisting and changing the public record
• Product stewardship
• Removal of stigma
• Liability defense
• Response to customers
• Supporting documentation for industry position

A Decision To Test

• THE FACTS SUPPORTED TESTING
• Epidemiological evidence did not support a finding of carcinogenicity
• Animal implantation studies were not using a relevant route of human

exposure

• IARC relied upon implantation studies because there were no “well designed

animal inhalation studies”

• Nobody was implanting fiber glass
• Governmental and scientific groups (NIOSH 1977; EPA 1988; IPCS 1988; CPSC

1991; WHO 1992) were concluding that the most meaningful animal studies for assessing potential human hazard or risk from fibers are inhalation studies

• “[e]xposure conditions in inhalation studies approach most closely the

circumstances of human exposure and are more relevant for characterization of risks to man.”FN

FN International Programme on Chemical Safety, WHO, Environmental Health Criteria 77, Man‐Made

Mineral Fibres (1988)

A Decision To Test

• MAKING CERTAIN THAT THE TEST RESULTS WERE

ACCEPTED

• Experts (including IARC) were consulted and helped select:
• The lab
• Type of inhalation studies
• Animals to be tested
• Number of tests
• EPA and OSHA were regularly apprised of test results
• Industry had sign‐off on all aspects of the testing
• A bold decision
• Reversal of previous listings is rare and difficult
• Time consuming and expensive
• Reversal is an admission that IARC was wrong the first time
• Some argued that there was no harm to leave it on the list – a precaution
• A no reversal policy actually serves as a disincentive to test

The Result

• IARC DELISTED FIBER GLASS AND ROCK AND SLAG

WOOL INSULATION

• In October 2001, IARC delisted fiber glass and rock and slag wools that are used for

thermal and acoustical insulation; these fibers are now considered not classifiable as to carcinogenicity

• A significant and rare accomplishment
• “Epidemiologic studies published during the 15 years since the previous IARC

Monographs review of these fibres in 1988 provide no evidence of increased risks of lung cancer or mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the body cavities) from

• ccupational exposures during manufacture of these materials, and inadequate

evidence overall of any cancer risk.”

• THE ANIMAL INHALATION STUDIES SUCCESSFULLY

DEMONSTRATED THAT ANIMAL DATA WAS LIMITED – OFFSET THE IMPLANTATION STUDIES

• TWO SIGNIFICANT INNOVATIONS THAT CAME OUT OF

THE RCC STUDIES PER IARC’S SUGGESTION

• Ability to produce large quantities of size‐selected respirable fibers
• Nose‐only exposure vs. previous inhalation studies that were whole body

Biosolubility

• BIOSOLUBILITY WAS ANOTHER FACTOR IN THE IARC

DECISION

• IARC FOUND THAT BIOPERSISTENCE TESTS PROVIDE

A CLEAR DELINEATION BETWEEN BIOSOLUBLE (NOT CLASSIFIABLE AS CARCINOGENS) AND BIOPERSISTENT (CLASSIFIABLE AS CARCINOGENS) FIBERS

• BIOSOLUBILITY STUDIES SUPPORT THE CONCLUSION

THAT FIBER GLASS INSULATION IS NOT CLASSIFIABLE AS A CARCINOGEN

• BIOSOLUBLE GLASS WOOL FIBERS DISSOLVE MORE

RAPIDLY IN BODY FLUIDS THAN OTHER FIBERS THAT HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN DISEASE

Two More Listings

• NTP
• The NTP in June 2011 removed from its Report on Carcinogens all biosoluble

glass wool used in home and building insulation and for non‐insulation products

• 10‐year process
• PROPOSITION 65
• In November 2011, California’s OEHHA published a modification to its

Proposition 65 listing to include only “Glass wool fibers (inhalable and biopersistent)”

• 2‐month process (incredibly succinct)

Significant Binder Change

• THE FIBER GLASS INDUSTRY VOLUNTARILY SUBSTITUTED

FORMALDEHYDE BINDERS WITH NON‐PHENOLIC BINDERS THAT ARE STARCH OR SUGAR BASED

• THE WOOL FIBERGLASS MANUFACTURING MACT STANDARD

REGULATED FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS

• FORMALDEHYDE WAS THE ONLY HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANT (“HAP”)

EMITTED BY THE FIBER GLASS INSULATION MANUFACTURERS

• ADDITIONAL BINDER CHANGES ARE BEING EXPLORED FOR

COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS – BOTH FIBER GLASS AND MINERAL WOOL

• THIS VOLUNTARY REMOVAL OF FORMALDEHYDE RESULTED IN A

REDUCTION OF A HAP GREATER THAN COULD EVER HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED BY EPA THROUGH REGULATIONS

• EPA DEEMED THESE ENVIRONMENTALLY PROACTIVE ACTIONS THAT

SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED HAPS FROM FIBER GLASS FACILITIES

Significant Binder Change

• “SINCE PROMULGATION, WE ESTIMATE THAT

INDUSTRY‐WIDE METAL HAP EMISSIONS FROM PROCESS SOURCES HAVE BEEN REDUCED BY APPROXIMATELY 76 PERCENT. DUE TO INDUSTRY’S EFFORTS TO REPLACE PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE BINDERS, MORE THAN 95 PERCENT OF FORMALDEHYDE, PHENOL, AND METHANOL EMISSIONS HAVE BEEN REDUCED (OR WILL BE BY 2012). AS A RESULT, ACTUAL PM (METAL HAP), FORMALDEHYDE, PHENOL, AND METHANOL EMISSIONS FROM PROCESS SOURCES AT ALL WOOL FIBERGLASS MANUFACTURING FACILITIES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN ARE ALLOWED UNDER THE 1999 MACT RULE.”

Energy Savings and Pollution Reduction

• INSULATION IS THE MOST COST‐EFFECTIVE MEANS OF

IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS AND REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

• STUDIES CONDUCTED BY THE HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC

HEALTH IN 2002 AND 2003 AND UPDATED BY BOSTON UNIVERSITY IN 2016 CONFIRMED THAT ENERGY SAVINGS TRANSLATE INTO ANNUAL REDUCTIONS OF POLLUTANTS

• SPECIFICALLY, REDUCTIONS IN ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

WOULD RESULT IN ANNUAL REDUCTIONS OF 80 MILLION TONS OF CO 2, 68,000 TONS OF NOX, AND 120,000 TONS OF SO 2

• BOTH THE HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND BOSTON

UNIVERSITY UPDATES CONFIRM THAT INSULATION’S MOST SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTE IS SAVING ENERGY WHICH, IN TURN, DELIVERS SIGNIFICANT POLLUTION REDUCTIONS WHICH RESULTS IN A QUANTIFIABLE PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFIT

Embodied Carbon Reduction

• COMPANIES ARE LOOKING AT CARBON REDUCTION

IN THE PRODUCTION OF ITS INSULATION PRODUCTS

• SOME INSULATION PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN

CERTIFIED AS MADE WITH 100% WIND‐POWERED ELECTRICITY

• THE DYNAMICS OF THE INDUSTRY WOULD SUGGEST

THAT THIS MOVEMENT WILL HAVE A RIPPLE EFFECT

Recycled Content

• RECYCLED CONTENT FOR FIBER GLASS IS 40‐60 PERCENT –

INCREASED FROM PREVIOUS YEARS

• RECYCLED CONTENT FOR SLAG WOOL IS 70‐90 PERCENT
• SINCE 1992, NAIMA HAS CONDUCTED AN ANNUAL SURVEY

TO DETERMINE THE VOLUME OF RECYCLED MATERIALS USED

• THE MOST RECENT SURVEY SHOWED THAT IN 2017, NAIMA

MEMBER COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA USED MORE THAN 2.5 BILLION POUNDS OF RECYCLED GLASS

• SINCE 1992, WHEN NAIMA STARTED COLLECTING RECYCLING

DATA, 58.2 BILLION POUNDS OF RECYCLED MATERIAL HAVE BEEN DIVERTED FROM THE WASTE STREAM

Recycled Content

• BY USING GLASS CULLET, RAW MATERIALS (SAND,

SODA ASH, ETC.) USE WILL BE REDUCED

• THE LIFE OF THE FURNACES WILL INCREASE UP TO

30% ‐ DECREASED MELTING TEMPERATURES AND LESS CORROSIVE BATCH

• REPORTS HAVE SHOWN THAT COMPARED TO 100%

RAW MATERIALS, USING 30% GLASS CULLET REDUCES SILICA USE BY 60%, SODA ASH BY 40%, AND SAVES 10% IN ENERGY COSTS

• THERE IS A MOVEMENT TO REMOVE GLASS FROM

THE WASTE STREAM

• NAIMA IS AN ACTIVE PROPONENT FOR RECYCLING

GLASS